PALM HARBOR, FL -- An international logjam of six players, including a trio of California collegians, tied for the first-round lead Wednesday in the 105th Southern Amateur at Innisbrook Resort. Among the leading group at 4-under-par 67 is UCLA junior Gregor Main, who won this tournament two years ago in Memphis.

Main, 22, canned a 10-foot birdie putt on the difficult final hole to join the leaders, two of whom are from college rivals Southern Cal and Stanford. “There’s something about this tournament that seems to make me play good,” said Main. “My game feels really good and it would be great to win the Southern Am twice.”

Also off to a 67 start are Stanford junior Andrew Yun, who recently led the U.S. team to Palmer Cup victory by winning all four of his matches; Southern Cal-bound teen Anthony Paolucci from Rancho Santa Fe, CA; Patrick Rodgers of Avon, IN; Hunter Hamrick, two-time Alabama am champ from Montgomery; and Cheng Tsung Pan from Taiwan.

The Southern Amateur field, which includes players from 25 states and 11 foreign countries, will be cut to the low 66 and ties after Thursday’s second round. The storied event concludes Saturday, the champion earning an automatic invitation to play in the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational next spring in Orlando.

ABOUT THE Southern Amateur

The Southern Amateur, which dates back to 1902, is
one of two competitions held by the Southern Golf
Association. (The other is the Southern Junior.) Its
champions roster is like a who’s
who’s
of competitive golf. (And the same could be said of
the standing of its host clubs.) Leading this group is
Robert T. (Bobby) Jones, Jr., who was the Southern
Amateur Champion in 1917, 1920, and 1922. Others
who have won or finished in a challenging position
and
gone on to national and/or international prominence
include Tommy Barnes, Dale Morey, Don January,
Gay
Brewer, Doug Sanders, Billy Joe Patton, Lew
Oehmig,
Hubert Green, Downing Gray, Marvin (Vinny) Giles,
Lanny Wadkins, Steve Melnyk, Tom Kite, John
Mahaffey, Ben Crenshaw, Gary Koch, Bill Rogers, Gil
Morgan, Danny Edwards, Andy Bean, Vance Haefner,
Jerry Pate, Chip Beck, David Edwards, Jay Sigel, Bob
Tway, Mark Brooks, Gene Sauers, Davis Love, Justin
Leonard and more recently PGA Tour standouts
Webb
Simpson and Kyle Stanley, who won twice each
between 2005 and 2008 in alternate years.